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Chapter One

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Destiny Island, 8:00 A.M.

Sora had to admit that school was one thing he didn't miss from his adventures. Like the average person, the first day jitters littered his body and he unconsciously gripped his back pack as it weighed on his shoulders. Why is school harder to defeat than an evil powered nobody or heartless? Wait… I'm supposed to 'forget' about them while I'm here. I can't let my guard down. It was hard enough last school year.

"Sora, are you okay?" Kairi said to his right, her tiny hand clenching his in hopes of getting his attention. "You've been spacing out and I had to pull you away from hitting a pole."

He simply replied with a 'yeah' and his normal smile before returning to the spaced out Keyblade warrior he was a second ago. Shaking her head, Kairi smiled as they reached Riku who had been waiting for them outside the school. He was leaning casually against the stonewall that held the gate, his uniform sleeves rolled up to his shoulders and a black studded belt holding up his pants. If she didn't know better, she wouldn't be surprised if he got gages and piercings cause he seemed to be going that way. Lately, Riku had been worrying both Sora and Kairi. Maybe he just needs to find someone, Kairi thought with a smile as she looked at Sora who seemed to have released himself from his daze to say something to Riku about how he was sporting the bad boy look perfectly.

Riku smirked as they got closer, "Well if there must be a bad boy, it might as well be me."

The trio entered the school as new and refreshing juniors, a whole new year ahead of them.

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It's too bad we can't all be in the same class, Riku thought begrudgingly as he slid back into his chair, his long silver hair covering his eyes. To anyone, it looked as if he was asleep but he was wide awake, watching as the teacher seemed excited about some new student.

The female teacher known as Ms. Hoshina clapped her hands together and began to introduce the new student. "Now, everyone, she is from another island on the other side of the ocean. From what her school said about her, she is a straight A student that is very talented and we are all very excited to have her so everyone, please welcome Sariah Océane Silvestre."

Rolling his eyes, Riku huffed, the tips of his silver bangs tickling his forehead. What's the big deal? Can we just get started? He glanced in Sariah's direction and for a second he was curious. She almost looks like the girl I saw at the club.

Riku took in her appearance and the memory became more vivid. She had the same bright red hair, green eyes…

Riku was suddenly brought out of his thoughts by Ms. Hoshina saying, "Did I say it right, Sariah?"

White teeth shined in a smile as Sariah nodded, "Yes ma'am, you did."

"Am I correct in saying its French?" Sariah nodded. "Well, thank you for choosing our school. You can have a seat over there."

Sariah did what Ms. Hoshina said and went to the left side of the room by the windows and sat down in the desk that was in the third row back. Riku could see the back of her head but merely glanced at her before rolling his eyes. She was average in his mind. A little too average…

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I wonder how Riku's doing… Sora began to think as he stared at the white board in front of him, his arm holding his head up as it resting against the desk, his head cocked to the right. He's probably bored out of his mind like I am. He was so bored, he was even sighing in his mind, his eyes lazily watching the teacher telling them about what they would be doing this year. Mr. Dee needs to find a girl friend. He's starting to turn creeper… Ooh! Maybe he should date Mrs. Hoshina! A plan began to form in his mind and he began to smile but that smile soon turned curious as the loud sound of running footsteps echoed in the hallway.

"What the…?" Putting the dry erase marker down, Mr. Dee walked to the door and just as he was about to open it, a girl with black hair emerge from the hall way, panting and holding herself up by her hands on her knees. "Who are you?"

The girl panted a few more times and within the small silence, Sora gave her a once over, noticing a pair of worn out black converses on her feet, silly bands of all colors on both her wrists and a house key hanging from a ribbon that was tied around her neck. She's the only other person on the island that really looks gothic other than Riku.

At that point, she seemed to be able to breathe enough to speak, so with a hand on her heart, she stood at full height and said, "The name's Danielle Willis. What's yours?"

Mr. Dee stuttered before fixing his glasses on his face. "I am the teacher and you may call me Mr. Dee. Why are you late, young lady?"

Sora snorted mentally; Creeper.

"I slept in." Danielle said simply as she shrugged.

"Do you even have a book bag?"

She nodded and turned around. A small back pack hung from her shoulders and seemed to only hold a small notebook. "Is that all you needed, Mr. Dee Dee?"

Haha, it looks like Mr. Dee is going to explode! Sora laughed mentally as he watched the teacher's face turn purple. He wasn't the only one; everyone in the room was laughing with him at Mr. Dee's face and Danielle's smug look.

With one last feeling of power and bravado, Mr. Dee pointed outside of the room as he said, "Detention, Miss Willis!"

Danielle rolled her eyes and did a one-eighty before marching out of the class room.

"Does she even know where detention is, Mr. Dee?" Someone from the back asked.

Everyone got quiet as they watched Mr. Dee's face turn red before he left the classroom in hopes of catching a glimpse of the delinquent teen but was rewarded with an empty hallway. An aggravated sigh left the teacher and made his students giggle before he huffed and went back to what he had been doing before he was so 'rudely interrupted by one of the worst students he had ever seen,' or so Sora heard.

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11: 45 A.M.

"She was so crazy!" Sora exclaimed as he described the student who had received a detention as a welcome to the school. "She was so your type Riku, really. She has the exact same style as you and-"

"-and you should ignore her." Kairi finished. "She's bad news. We don't need to get into that. We could be called by the King at anytime and we can't leave our parents worrying about our behavior."

Too late for that, Riku thought as he recalled the last time he had gotten drunk which was only two days ago. Mom was so close to finding me checked out in the bathroom.

The trio continued to talk as they walked up the stairs towards the roof of the school. It was known as 'their spot' and no one dared to challenge it for fear or the wrath of Riku. Just as the silver haired teen was about to reach the last step that was in front of the door to the roof, Riku shushed the excited Keyblade warrior who was trying to get Kairi to join in his excitement over something Riku didn't care about. What Riku cared about in that moment was the conversation he could hear coming from the other side of the door.

"What is it?" Kairi whispered, her eyes warily watching the little window that was in the middle of the door, the light from the sun being the only source of light in the stairwell.

Riku eyed her, "You don't hear that?"

All three of them began to listen closely and the voices of two young women could be heard faintly through the small opening between the wall and the door.

"I know that voice!" Sora whispered. "It's the new girl, Danielle!"

"And the new girl, Sariah," Riku replied. "She's new in my class."

"There are two new girls?" Kairi answered, her face showing her curiosity. "What are the odds of two new people coming to Destiny Island?"

Riku shushed her again, receiving a glare in response, before putting his ear to the door, the voices of the two girls beginning to get louder.

"-can't believe you got detention of the first day, Dani! I thought we had to be good here!"

"Yes, good! Getting detention isn't bad! It happens all the time!"

"Maybe but we can't take any chances! I don't wanna go back to that damn Catholic school. I spent enough of my life in that prison!"

Catholic school? They all thought.

"Sariah…" They heard Dani whine. "We still have to wear a damn uniform!"

"And you're not following it, plus at least it's a cute uniform."

"So? How am I not following it?"

"Your shoes."

"You own converses!"

"Yes, but I am not wearing them. They are not apart of the uniform. These shoes are."

"And they are ugly."

Sora sighed; "This is boring, I'm going down stairs to eat." As soon as he turned around, Kairi glanced at Riku before following her boyfriend down the steps. Riku watched them leave before he put his attention back on the two feuding girls. After a few seconds passed, Riku stood at full height and looked through the window. Why is it quiet? Sariah was sitting on the left of who he assumed was Danielle, Sariah's bright red hair glowing gold in the sun light.

Wow… He was suddenly pulled from his thoughts as Sariah began to speak; even Danielle had to lean in to hear.

"I-I just… don't want to go back. I don't want to see her… them… him… I don't want to see them ever again." Sariah turned to look at Danielle and Riku suddenly felt that he shouldn't be there. "I will die if I go back…"

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School Courtyard, 3:25 P.M.

He felt like an intruder. He had heard things he probably shouldn't have heard and it made him want to do a repeat of his weekend. He would probably end up on the bathroom floor again with a 'stomach ache'. With a sigh, Riku put his face in his hands as he continued to sit on the edge of the large water fountain. The best thing to do is to ignore what I heard. I'll most likely never talk to her so what does it matter?

Riku stood up slowly and shook his head before quickly walking towards the gate that would lead off of the school grounds. I just need to go home and drink some bourb- "Oof!"

"Ow!"

The sudden sound of a female voice stopped him from holding his head in favor of looking up, his face showing how shocked he was. "S-Sariah…!" What the hell? I thought I just said I'll never talk to her? He watched as she rubbed her head, not yet noticing that he was staring at her. Is that… a nose stud?

It was almost like he hadn't really looked at her when she was introduced to the class because now, he didn't see her as average. It was like he was seeing through a cloud of smoke before while now, he was actually looking at her.

Riku didn't notice that Sariah had stopped checking her injury in favor of looking at who had knocked her down on her bottom; he was so entranced by her forest green eyes. "Um… hello? Are you okay?" Why is he staring at me? Sariah thought as she leaned forward ever so slightly, trying to see Riku's eyes underneath his bangs. "Did you hit your head?"

What? Oh shit-! "Yeah, I-I'm okay," Riku stuttered, quickly dusting himself off and standing. "A-Are you okay?" His eyes gave her a once over, noticing how her skirt had ridden up her thighs, almost showing something he shouldn't see. He made sure to look her in the eyes when she dusted herself off before trying to get up. Muttering a 'here', he helped her to her feet, one hand on her back and the other lightly holding her own hand, treating her as if she were a doll.

Sariah flashed him a brilliant smile and Riku felt his heart flutter. "I'm fine. Thank you for helping me up. What's your name?"

"It's Riku."

"My name's Sariah… I believe I'm in your class, class 3B?"

Riku nodded as he put his hand in his pockets, trying to look as if he didn't care. "Yep, with Ms. Hoshina." He noticed how she checked him out in that quiet moment, her eyes lingering up his body until their eyes met. Her freckled nose and cheeks were dusted with an adorable pink before she looked away.

"Sariah!"

Said red head turned around to see her friend coming towards her, her black hair flying in the little wind she was making as she ran towards Sariah. She seemed rather excited from what Riku could tell.

As soon as she got to Sariah, Dani as Riku had heard her be called, put her hands on Sariah's shoulders as she said, "You will not believe this – wait who are you?"

For once in his life, Riku felt as if he was being determined as a threat or not towards someone he didn't even know. "The name's Riku," he said as he straightened his shoulders, still maintaining the 'I don't care' look. "I accidentally ran into Sariah here and we both fell. I think she's fine though." Looking in Sariah's direction with a smirk on his face, he enjoyed how her cheeks turned pink and ignored the glare he was getting from Dani.

"We should go Sariah."

"Where do you live? I could walk you there-"

"We live on the other side of the island." Dani interrupted.

Riku mentally smirked. "Well good, so do I." He noticed how Dani's eyes narrowed at the statement but Sariah's smile seemed to hold her back.

Okay, he decided a couple minutes later, this was not how I planned it.

Here he was, on the side of the side walk that was nearest to the road while Dani was in the middle, her arm linked with Sariah's. Both of them a good two feet away from him but he could feel Dani's sideways glare easily. It was almost as he was being pushed further away from them by that glare.

After several more uncomfortable moments, they reached the girls' house and Riku wanted to sigh in happiness. Maybe now he could talk to the red-haired beauty that had caught his eye out of nowhere. Deciding he would do just that, he took in a breath before saying Sariah's name, only to be interrupted by her friend.

"Come on, Sariah. Mr. Dee Dee gave me loads of homework and I need your help!" Quickly, Dani pushed Sariah inside, not caring that the girl was trying to fight it the whole way. Right before the dark hair girl had closed the door, she stuck her tongue out at Riku; her eyes squeezed shut and her aura obviously admitting annoyance.

He watched as she slammed the door shut, almost immediately followed by the sound of arguing before the door opened, revealing Sariah. Hope filled his gut and only grew as she walked towards him, not caring that Dani was watching them with a disapproved gaze.

He smirked as she got closer, his mouth moving before he could stop it. "Sariah, do-"

"Would you like to go out sometime, Riku?" she asked, her voice melodic and her smile imprinting in his memory.

She's just full of surprises isn't she? With a smirk, he took a step forward and put a stray hair behind her ear, making her freckles hide behind a blush. He could hear Dani fuming behind them and it made Riku's smirk grow as he leaned in, whispering in her ear.

"Only if I can try and make you blush past your beautiful face."

Her hypnotic green eyes stared into his in that moment and he felt his breath hitch as she smiled and said, "You can try."

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AN: I actually loved how this chapter turned out. Oh btw, I looked over the Prologue and fixed some things, mostly misspelled words and grammar. If you happen to find anything like that in here, feel free to write it in your review along with what you think of this chapter. It'd be greatly appreciated.

- Trembling Rose